Hit the Road Jack
by Doctor McFly
Summary: Episode Eight: Their investigation of Morton Robotics leads the Doctor and Marty to seek out Captain Jack Harkness when it seems the company may be tied to the Three Families  post-Miracle Day .
1. Right on Impact

(Welcome to my episodic crossover fic. This is episode eight, and while you can start reading here, you might want to visit my profile to get the whole story with Episode One: Frozen in Time)

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 1

Monday

June 29th

2015

Something buzzed on the TARDIS consol.

"What's that?" Marty asked as he and the Doctor walked up the ramp towards the blinking lights of the main hub.

They had just returned after exploring an alien world comprised entirely out of geometric shapes that gave off different musical notes when you touched them. Walking through the valleys created entire symphonies to listen to. They had gone there after the Doctor had set up a programme to go through all the information they had gotten from Morton Robotics. For the first time the Doctor had an excuse to show Marty a corner of the universe that wouldn't try to kill him.

"The programme's finished, just in time," the Doctor grinned, grabbing a printout and quickly reading it. "Hm…"

"Hm?" Marty sat down, looking the Doctor over.

The Doctor's brow was wrinkled in concentration, as though something were troubling him. Marty was worried for a moment that he might have found some of the files Marty hadn't given him – the files on him and Doc Brown.

"Looks like Morton Robotics is already researching some time travellers I know."

Marty said nothing.

"An old… friend," he smiled. "Captain Jack Harkness."

Marty felt relieved, but also slightly guilty that he wasn't sharing everything with the Doctor; but nothing would change if he told the Doctor he thought Morton Robotics were targeting him. The only thing that would change is that Marty would have to admit out loud that Jennifer being frozen in time was his fault.

"So you two used to time travel together?"

"We met during the blitz."

"The what?"

"You know, World War II, the bombings on London."

Marty shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"Not a history buff, are you?"

"I studied American history."

"Well, your country did fight in that war too. Parts of it anyway."

"Get to the point," Marty rolled his eyes.

"He was a rogue Time Agent from the 51st century. He'd travel through time selling space junk as genuine extraterrestrial technology."

"And he's an, uh, alien too?"

"No, perfectly human."

"So the Time Agents are – will be? – run by humans?"

"Yes, but it only lasts about 400 years before being shut down."

"What's the significance Doc?"

"They know he was a Time Agent, they mention it here. But they shouldn't know something like that."

"Why not?"

The Doctor began running around the consol, pulling levers and pressing buttons. The TARDIS began to shake and move.

"Because there shouldn't be any records of him being a Time Agent in this century. A member of Torchwood, yes, but this other information could only have come from someone from a future timeline."

"Torchwood? Doc, you're losing me here."

"Torchwood was an agency that investigated extraterrestrial phenomenon in the United Kingdom. He was an agent with them for over a hundred years."

"Over a hundred years? I thought you said he was human."

"Well, yes, but didn't I mention he's immortal?"

"He can't die? Heavy…"

"Couldn't agree more."

The TARDIS went still.

"Where are we?" Marty asked, then quickly added: "When are we?"

"About two hours in the future," the Doctor was bounding down the ramp towards the door.

"Two hours?" Marty followed.

"Right at impact," the Doctor opened the door.

It was night, wherever they were. Marty could make out a tree line, but the land before them was barren and flat.

"Where are we? What did you mean impact?" They exited the TARDIS, just as the sky lit up and a trail of fire made its way towards earth.

"Jesus Doc!" Marty backed up in fear, but the Doctor stood his ground, his hands in his pockets as he watched the things crash land into the virgin earth.

The object must have been small, because the crater was no bigger than a pool. A fire burned at its centre, lighting up the tree line – and then, coming out from between the trees Marty saw two beams of light and a black SUV break through, driving at full speed towards the crater, skidding to a stop at the edge and nearly falling in.

Two men then jumped out, still too far away for Marty to make out any detail, but the Doctor grinned widely.

"There he is. Right on time to save the world from the scary aliens. Captain Jack Harkness."

**To Be Continued…**

(I'm posting this chapter a lot later in the day than I wanted to, because unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the finale of Miracle Day yesterday. Either way, we're back on track and although I was really blindsided by the workload from my first week back to school I'm fairly certain I'll be able to do a chapter a day – but I'm making no promises! Also, the next chapter will be rife with spoilers for Miracle Day, so be warned.)


	2. Two Fixed Points in Time

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 2

Instinctively Marty wanted to keep his distance from the burning crater, but it wasn't an option; the Doctor was already calmly walking towards it and the two figures who were approaching the crater from the other direction. Marty could now make out enough of the figures to see that they were about the same size and build, though one man was black with a nearly shaved head and wore a black suit while the other man was white with spiky brown hair and wore a long dark blue World War II military trench-coat.

"Is anything going to crawl out of that crater?" Marty carefully watched the edge, his mind replaying images of War of the Worlds as he walked around it.

"I'd say we have a good ten minutes."

"Oh great," Marty sighed.

The two figures had noticed them and had started walking towards them. One of them, the one in the trench-coat, stopped suddenly, then smiled a huge toothy grin and ran forward.

"Doctor!" He called out and when he reached the taller man he grabbed him in an embrace. His companion ran up behind him, holding a gun in his hand.

"So this is the Doctor you're always talking about?" He asked. Both of them had American accents.

"Jack, it's good to see you," the Doctor smiled as Jack put a hand on his cheek.

"You have no idea," they stared at each other for a moment, a far-off look in Jack's eyes that made Marty feel slightly uncomfortable, until the other man cleared his throat.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Right, of course," Jack let go of the Doctor and pulled the other man forward. "Rex Matheson, this is the Doctor."

"Who's the kid?"

"Oh." Jack looked Marty over, noticing him for the first time, a sudden funny look appeared in his eyes. "Hi, Captain Jack Harkness."

He took a step forward, towering over Marty and holding a hand out.

"Jack," the Doctor warned. "This is Marty McFly – he's 17."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Jack purred.

"Uh…" Marty tentatively took the man's strong hand. "Nice… to meet you."

Jack kept shaking his hand and Marty looked to the Doctor for help.

"Jesus Jack, do you ever stop?" Rex muttered. "Do you know what the phrase 'age of consent' means?"

Jack finally let go of the perplexed Marty's hand and turned back to Rex. "Sounds boring."

"A lot less boring than jail, that's for sure."

"So," Jack turned and faced the Doctor again. "I take it this isn't just a visit for old time's sake?"

"Hey, are you forgetting the UFO that just crash landed?" Rex pointed his gun towards the crater.

The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. "That UFO belongs to the Theodaids. They're tiny and perfectly peaceful, they'll just be needing a lift home."

"Great," Rex holstered his weapon. "Well, it's nice to meet you then."

The Doctor shook Rex's hand and his smile immediately melted off his face. He looked at Jack with narrowed eyes.

"I can explain," Jack said.

"Hey guys," Marty pointed to a squirrel-sized alien crawling out of the crater. "Shouldn't we take care of this first?"

OOO

After dropping off the Theodaids on their home world, the four men sat down around the TARDIS console to discuss matters. Rex was still looking around the large room muttering to himself something about "just when I though I'd seen it all" as Jack described the events that happened after Miracle Day.

Miracle Day had taken place four years ago in 2011, for several months no one in the world died, crashing the economy and sending the world into a panic as overpopulation dwindled resources; however Jack, another Torchwood agent and two CIA agents (one of whom was Rex) had managed to put things right. There was only one side-effect, Rex had absorbed Jack's immortality in the process.

"Man, immortals are just a dime a dozen in the 21st century, aren't they?" Marty was stunned by all this information.

"No they are not," the Doctor had a dark look on his face. One walking fixed point in time was hard enough to deal with – but two?

"What century are you from?" Jack smiled at Marty. "Wait – don't tell me. Tight acid-washed jeans? You must be a child of the 80s. I loved the 80s – and acid-washed jeans."

"Child is right," Rex muttered.

"Let's leave my jeans out of this," Marty sad uneasily.

"Oh, I intend to."

"All right," the Doctor stood up. "Time we got to the point. What can you tell me about Morton Robotics?"

"Never heard of them," Rex answered immediately, but Jack furrowed his brow, remembering something.

"I've heard that name before," he said with a grave face. "Morton Robotics, previously owned by the Three Families."

"That's not good," Rex shook his head.

"The Three Families?" The Doctor asked.

"They were responsible for Miracle Day."

"After we stopped them they must have needed to shave off a lot of excess fat, because they sold off several of their small companies," Jack explained. "Morton Robotics was one of them. We investigated them, nullified any threat they might pose – or at least, made sure they wouldn't be able to pull a stunt like the Three Families had."

"Guess you're not very good at your job," Marty muttered.

"Sorry?"

The Doctor handed Jack a folder. "They had this information on you."

"Not surprising," Rex shrugged. "The Three Families wouldn't have existed if it weren't for them getting a hold of Jackie Boy here's blood."

"But this has nothing to do with Jack – or you – being immortal," Marty protested.

"Oh?" Rex asked, peering over Jack's shoulder to read the folder.

"This is all about my service in the Time Agency. How could they get this information?"

"We were hoping you could tell us."

**To Be Continued…**

(I don't mean to make Jack a dirty old man, but let's be honest with ourselves: Jack would hit on Marty, however playfully. It was not my intention to have Rex in this story, of course when I wrote the outline I didn't even know he existed, and after watching Miracle Day he is certainly my favourite surviving character introduced, so I had to have him show up. I hope I managed to sum up the mind-blowingly awesome 10 episodes of Miracle Day here for everyone who didn't watch it and that it made sense. My summary does no justice.)


	3. Cardiff

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 3

Tuesday

September 13th

2011

Jack crept up to the dark warehouse in perfect silence. The site was completely empty and if he didn't know better he would have thought it was an abandoned building – but Jack did know better.

The world was still trying to heal itself from the events of Miracle Day, the events he had managed to stop what seemed like only yesterday. People walked around like they were in a daze, still unable to process how they had been given and lost immortality so quickly. Mostly there was a sigh of relief, but a few people felt a tinge of regret that yes, they too would one day die.

Of course, that isn't at all what was going through Jack's mind, because _he_ wouldn't die, destroying the Three Families' plans had seen to that, but he wasn't done with the Three Families yet.

Almost immediately after that day in Shanghai he had started looking for leads to find the Three Families, and finally he had had success. A day after the world returned to normal, 52 businesses from all over the world suddenly went up for sale at the exact same moment. There was nothing concrete to connect them with the Three Families, but there was no way a coincidence that big could have happened.

When he looked into the businesses, their seller wasn't listed. In fact, according to records no one had ever owned any of those businesses, most of them didn't have addresses or anything that the most basic of business _should_ have had. It had the markings of the Three Families all over it. No one else would ensure that all traces of themselves were wiped clean.

When he had finally been able to track one down to an address, something called Morton Robotics, he decided it was time to act. The address was in Cardiff, right along the time rift. He didn't think that was a coincidence either.

Finally, Jack ran into a security guard. He was patrolling near the front entrance. Jack didn't want to risk an encounter, not when he didn't know how many more guards might be inside, so he waited until the guard passed him by, and then he snuck up to the door, broke the lock, and got inside.

The halls inside the warehouse were pristine white and well lit, the complete opposite of the façade, and he was more certain than ever that this company was not on the level. He needed to get to the centre, in order to get the most out of the brick of C4 he had brought along.

A brick, with the magnification of the time rift, would be more than enough to take this entire warehouse down.

A door suddenly opened and a guard walked out, saw Jack and started reaching for his gun. Jack reached for his own, just a little faster than the guard, and shot the man in the head.

The man fell, dead, and Jack grabbed the security pass pinned to his still chest. He walked through the door the guard had come out of, and into the main warehouse. It was completely empty, save for a computer terminal in the middle of the room. Was this just a front?

He wanted to look at the computer, copy the files, but he knew his gunshot wouldn't go unheard and he had nothing to copy the hard-drive with.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath as he attached the C4 to the computer, pushing in the detonator. He'd have to be content with simply taking out the building and whatever sinister deeds might have grown here.

OOO

"So when you say you nullified the threat?" Rex looked at Jack as he finished telling the three about his previous encounter with Morton Robotics.

"I blew them to kingdom come," Jack grinned

"Wait," Marty interrupted. "I thought there was no record of Morton Robotics before 2015."

"I suppose there wouldn't be. After I destroyed the warehouse the listing disappeared, along with any mention of them."

"Until they appeared in my home town."

"But why would they build on the rift?" The Doctor was deep in thought, asking himself more than anyone else in the TARDIS. "Maybe they need a warehouse to build the robots, but they hadn't begun building them… but maybe they needed the time rift."

"I'm sorry," Marty raised his hand. "Am I the only person here who doesn't know what a time rift is?"

"No," Rex said. "What the hell is a time rift?"

"Think of it like an open wound in time," Jack explained, "a wound constantly bleeding itself. Things fall in, reappear maybe 300 years later – or before. Torchwood worked right on top of it."

"It's also quite a handy refueling station," the Doctor added, bounding towards the consul. "Jack! Where's another time rift on earth?"

Jack opened a flap on the leather wrist-strap he wore on his left arm. "Mexico."

"Mexico?" The Doctor started wildly pressing buttons. "Perfect!"

"Wait-" Rex started protesting, but suddenly the TARDIS was violently swaying. "Hey! I didn't sign up for some robot hunt!"

"Neither did I," Jack smiled. "These things just happen around the Doctor!"

"And isn't it wonderful?" The Doctor grinned back.

"Oh yes!"

"Oh no," Rex sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

**To Be Continued…**

(Oh god, so busy with school, so little time to write…)


	4. Hide and Seek

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 4

"Great, you had to bring us to the worst neighbourhood in Mexico," Rex looked out disapprovingly from the TARDIS door.

"It isn't like I checked the realtor listings before I put in the coordinates," the Doctor pushed past him wearing his trench coat into the small alley. It was a chilly night outside that door.

There were no tall buildings around them, just poorly constructed one or two storey ones that looked as though they had been built over 100 years ago and not fixed up since. Few cars passed by, just a handful of shabby looking people either walking or riding past on bikes with no brakes. There were hardly any streetlights around them. Most of the light came from the moon above them and a few lit up windows.

"Well this place hasn't changed much since the 80s," Marty remarked. He had once gone to Tijuana with Jennifer for the weekend. She had hated it and made them turn back almost immediately. This certainly wasn't Tijuana though, it looked like a much smaller city. "What should we be looking for?"

The Doctor held up a small book-sized object, a flat screen on one side and wires and bobbles making up the other. "Maybe a warehouse. I'll know soon, I'm running a search."

"A search for what?"

"Anything that might help."

"Great, so in the meantime we split up then?" Marty suggested. Small city or not, he could see there was a lot of ground to cover, with a lot of winding alleys that could take days to search.

"That's probably not a good thing," Jack emerged from the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. "Crime has been one hell of a problem down here. Have you ever heard of the Cartel?"

"Sure," Marty shrugged, the word sounded familiar. "From movies I guess."

"Mexican organized crime," Rex explained, checking his weapon like a reflex. "They like grabbing naïve looking tourists to hold as ransom."

"Good luck ransoming me," Marty snorted. "They won't get much of a ransom off a dead guy."

"You what?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like they ask for your life story kid," Rex said.

"We should split into twos, just to cover more ground."

The Doctor nodded, putting the screen into his trench pocket. "The time rift runs northeast to southwest, so that gives us two directions to search."

"And other than a warehouse, what the hell are we looking for?" Rex asked.

"Killer robots," Marty explained calmly.

"Oh I am so glad I get to do this instead of going back home to my bed," Rex rolled his eyes.

Jack smiled at Marty. "I'll go with-"

"The Doctor," Rex interrupted him. "Me and the kid'll go northeast."

The Doctor had a fleeting uncertainty about letting Marty wander off with a man he barely knew, but Jack seemed to trust him well enough, and having an immortal bodyguard wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"All right, but be back here by sunup if you don't find anything," the Doctor said hurriedly.

"Yes dad," Marty muttered sarcastically.

OOO

They couldn't just walk in a straight line. The roads kept veering off and buildings would get in their way. Marty had expected to be able to see the time rift with his naked eyes, like the aurora borealis or something, but the only way to see it was through the red and blue 3D glasses the Doctor had lent him. He would hold them up to his eyes for just a second to get their bearings every time they were driven off course.

"So how did a kid like you end up with the Doctor?" Rex asked after a while.

"He saved my life and, well," Marty made a wide gesture. "The only reason we're here is because of me."

"How so?"

"I just mean," Marty stumbled over his words, "if the Doctor hadn't saved my life that day, he would have never known these robots even existed."

"Then I guess it's a good idea he saved you that day. From what Jack tells me, this Doctor of yours can fix anything. At least, he better. I did not plan on spending my week in Mexico. Hey, what's this?"

The alley had turned into a dead end, houses on either side of them, a wooden fence in front of them. It looked new.

"Does the rift keep going on?"

Marty held up the glasses and nodded. "Looks like it."

"Think we can go around this thing?"

They both looked around. There was no immediate path they could see going along the fence and backtracking to find one could take a long time.

"Maybe we can go over," Marty suggested. "Lift me up."

Rex crouched down, cupping his hands so Marty could have a foothold. He lifted Marty until the teenager could grab onto the top of the fence, pulling himself up enough to peer over.

"It's just," his arms shook, struggling to hold himself up. He let go, allowing himself to fall back down. "It's just a field."

"Should we go back for Jack?"

Marty shook his head. "A field fenced off right in the middle of a city? Something tells me Jack and the Doctor will come to us."

OOO

"It's been awhile," Jack smiled at the Doctor, but his eyes seemed distant "When I saw you in that bar, I thought that was the last time I would see you."

"Bar? What bar?"

"Old Tolstoy on Alpha Century 3."

"Never been there."

"Maybe it hasn't happened yet."

"Well, timey wimey and all that," the Doctor grinned at him.

Jack nodded, looking away.

The Doctor cleared his throat, feeling the weight between them. "I'm sorry I haven't been around to help."

"I assume it wasn't because you knew I could handle these global crises on my own," Jack tried to smile, but it felt flat.

"They're fixed points in time. They had to happen and I had to let them run their course – but it made it easier knowing you were around."

Jack wanted to tell the Doctor all the things he had sacrificed, all the people he had let die – all the people he had murdered, but it wasn't fair to put all of that on the Doctor. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," was all he managed.

"Aha!" The Doctor said triumphantly.

"What is it?"

"Search is done," the Doctor pulled the screen out of his pocket.

"What have you found?"

"Tom Nor," the Doctor wrinkled his brow.

"What?"

"It's an anagram, for Morton."

"But what does it mean?"

"Tom Nor owns a huge track of land on the rift. I think we found our lead."

**To Be Continued…**

(I am so sorry for my week hiatus, but school really hit me like a wall in an F1 race and I really needed to step back from all my projects for a bit and prioritize. Hopefully everything has settled down and I'll be able to get through the rest of this story without interruption. I decided to switch this to a Torchwood fic, not just to get a wider audience, but mostly because this episode is really concentrated on the events of Miracle Day and I think some Torchwood fans would be into it. Okay, I better start work on the next chapter!)


	5. Killer Robots?

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 5

"We have to get to the other side," Marty looked at the building next to the wooden fence, trying to see if there were any footholds. Rex might be able to get Marty over the fence, but there was no way Marty would be able to lift Rex over it.

"Shouldn't we wait?"

"He'll catch up, he always does," Marty jumped up and grabbed a windowsill. He managed to pull himself up, and from there he could just swing his legs over the fence and drop down. "Come on."

"Wait, you think killer robots, or whatever, might be manufactured here, and you just want to go in without any backup?"

"Backup's on its way," Marty grinned, and fell away from Rex's view.

"You people are nuts," Rex muttered, but he pulled himself up and followed Marty over the fence. "Not very good security for a corporation the Three Families used to own."

He dropped down next to the teenager, who looked over the dark and lifeless field.

"I think I agree with you. There should be _something_ else protecting this place."

"Killer robots?" Rex asked, but only half sarcastically. The ridiculous things he had seen working with Torchwood had sobered him up to the idea that even something as stupid as killer robots was a plausible situation.

"I'll keep my eyes open," Marty nodded, then, with a determined look on his face, plunged forward. "Stay close."

Rex looked up at the sky for a moment. "Christ, when did I start taking orders from kids?

OOO

"One guard?" Jack asked as he stared at the entrance of the fence that surrounded the property owned by Tom Nor through a pair of night-vision binoculars. A sole guard sat on a bench outside the door, his head resting against the fence, his eyes closed, his riffle casually leaning next to him. They had gone the long way in hopes of finding the entrance and assessing the situation.

"Some flimsy fence and a single guard…" the Doctor's face was scrunched up, trying to figure out the catch. "I suppose it's possible they haven't started building anything yet. The robots we saw in California were still in their prototype phase."

"Could be a trap though. I doubt Morton Robotics, or Tom Nor, or whoever, want to draw attention to themselves, so they only let you see one guard, a deterrent for any neighbourhood kids who might want to explore. They might have an entire army of robots in there."

An entire army? That didn't sound right to the Doctor. If they had the ability to make an entire army of robots in 2015, then surely they would be able to manufacture more robots in the future. Undoubtedly there were several of the robots popping up through time, but if they had sent out an army after time travellers he would have been tripping over them at every turn.

"There's only one way to find out," the Doctor said casually, getting up to his feet. He walked towards the sleeping guard and Jack was fast on his heels. He was hoping to either sneak past the sleeping guard, but just as he walked past the man he stirred and got up.

"What the hell?" The bearded man looked the Doctor over. "What do you want man? Private property, shove off."

"I have a meeting," the Doctor smiled politely, holding out his psychic paper as an ID. "See? We're expected."

"No way man, no one goes in," he grabbed his weapon, getting to his feet, but he wasn't threatening them with it yet. "You got the wrong place man."

"No, I'm pretty sure Mr. Nor said to go to the great big fenced off area in the middle of the city. Unless there's another great big fenced off area in the middle of the city owned by Tom Nor?"

"Get lost man."

"Oh forget this," Jack muttered, grabbing the man with one hand, and punching him in the face with the other. The man fell back, his head bouncing off the fence, and he hit the ground unconscious.

"I had that under control," the Doctor protested. "He was about the let us in."

"Come on, he hadn't even started believing you."

The Doctor tried to push away his annoyance at Jack's violence. He knew it was an unavoidable part of who Jack was, just one of the many reasons why the Doctor had tried to distance himself from the man.

"Next time let me handle it," the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. The gates to the fence were chained together, and with one button press on the screwdriver the lock undid and the chains slipped away. "Someone will notice him soon, we better move fast."

OOO

Marty and Rex hadn't lost sight of the city. The field was huge, but all around them they could see lights just visible over the fence, reminding them that although they felt completely alone, there were hundreds of souls just an arm's reach away. Inside the fence though, there wasn't a single light or living thing. The crunch of the dirt beneath their shoes was the only noise they heard as they walked across the field.

They nearly walked right into the building. It was a small one-storey cement building, the only thing left of the neighbourhood that had been bulldozed over.

"Too small to be a warehouse," Rex said.

"Yeah… but what if it's just a front?"

"You mean, maybe they built their warehouse underground?"

"Either way, we should check it out."

They made their way around to the other side of the building, feeling their way along the walls until they finally found a door.

"Do you hear something?" Rex asked, certain he had heard someone speaking just then.

Marty shrugged. "Maybe, sounded distant."

Rex tried the handle. "It's unlocked."

He opened the door and it led into a small room. A door was on the other side, they could see a small line of light outlining the door.

Rex took out his gun, stepping in front of the teenager. "Just stay back, okay?"

"Okay," Marty stayed in the main entrance, as Rex put his had on the doorknob and opened the second door.

Light flooded into the small room and for a moment Marty could see nothing but Rex's outline, then there was a great amount of noise, of metal scraping across cement, as a dozen men in the lit room suddenly pushed back their chairs and got to their feet, each one holding a gun, pointing it directly at Rex.

**To Be Continued…**

(Oh Rex, the more I write you the more I want to keep you in my story forever.)


	6. Hit the Deck

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 6

"Kid hit the deck!" Rex yelled, then suddenly the men in the room opened fire and Marty fell to the ground.

As he covered his head with his arms his ears were suddenly bombarded by the sound of machinegun fire. For a moment he couldn't move, he was terrified that moving a centimetre would mean the difference between surviving and having a limb blown off. But he did move, it only took a second for him to remember Rex was with him, to turn his head and see Rex twitching in the air, bullet after bullet tearing through his skin, showering Marty with his blood.

Either the gunmen didn't see Marty lying prone on the ground outside, or they were just focusing on Rex. It didn't matter, they would notice Marty in a moment. Fear gripping his heart, Marty pushed himself to his feet, and as Rex hit the ground, dead, Marty starting running through the night, not conscious of where he was going or if he was being followed, he just ran.

He collided into someone, both of them falling to the ground. Marty felt himself scream as hands grabbed onto him.

"Who the fuck are you!" The figure yelled in a coarse voice. Marty was too frantic to think straight, the image of Rex being torn apart by bullets kept playing itself over and over in his head and he kept screaming until he felt the man's fist impact into his jaw and he fell to the ground silent.

He looked up at the man crawling to his feet. Marty could make out just enough to see the man pull out a gun and point it at him. He closed his eyes, not able to bear the thought of the barrel of a gun being the last thing he ever saw – and a gun fired and it was so loud Marty's ears rang.

How could his ears ring if he was dead?

"Marty!" A voice called out, a familiar voice, a British voice.

"Doc!" Marty opened his eyes and saw the Doctor fall to his knees before him, looking him over with concerned eyes. Jack stood behind him, his gun still in hand, the assailant lying on the ground, his beady eyes staring up at the sky, but seeing nothing.

"He's bleeding," Jack said hurriedly, looking around. "Where's Rex."

"I'm not- I'm not," Marty couldn't stop shaking.

They could hear voices – lots of voice – calling out to each other, coming towards them.

"We need to get out of here!" The Doctor grabbed Marty and pulled him to his feet before he could protest.

And suddenly they were running, and the farther away they got, the closer the light came, the more Marty felt himself regaining his composure. The image wouldn't go away, and Marty could smell nothing other than the blood on him, but finally he could remember that most wondrous of facts – Rex was immortal. So, he couldn't be dead, right? Of course, that didn't stop the fact that he was still back there in the hands of the enemy.

They reached the gate, a drowsy looking guard pulling himself to his feet. As they ran out of the gate the guard's eyes went wide and just as he was about to call out for help he felt Jack's fist a second time and fell back into the dust.

"This way!" The Doctor turned left and started leading them down the winding alleys. Marty followed him as closely as possible, Jack taking up the rear. Marty had completely lost track of how long they had been running for when the Doctor suddenly stopped and Marty ran right into him, nearly knocking the two over, but the Doctor held fast as he peered around the corner.

"Not good," the Doctor muttered to himself.

"What is it?" Jack poked his head around the corner to see the TARDIS, but it wasn't alone. Four of the Mexican guards, each one carrying a machine gun, were loading the blue time machine onto the back of a truck.

"Jennifer's in there!" Marty went to run towards the truck, but both the Doctor and Jack held him back.

"Running out there is suicide!" Jack tried to keep his voice as hushed as possible as they yanked the teen back around the corner.

"I can't let them take her!"

"Calm down. There's nothing we can do right now."

"But-"

"Well, this isn't the first time we've lost the TARDIS."

"She won't go far, and they can't get in there. Jennifer will be safe," the Doctor reassured him.

"How did they even find it?" Jack asked in frustration.

"They must have been looking for it. The Company knows we're onto them," the Doctor pulled back and he and Jack both looked at Marty, taking in the sight of the blood for the first time. "Are you all right?"

Marty looked down at himself, at the blood running down his arms and shirt and – he was certain – his face was probably just as bloody.

"It's not mine. It's-"

"Rex…" Jack looked back the way they came, a sincere look of concern on his face. "We need to go back for him."

"And we will," the Doctor said quickly, "but first we need to get off these streets. They're definitely looking for us now."

"We found a building," Marty took a deep breath, finally feeling some semblance of calm. "It seemed abandoned. We thought maybe there was an underground warehouse, but the place was filled with those banditos."

"Hardly bandits, more like mercenaries," the Doctor started walking and his two companions were quick to follow. "They were hired by Morton Robotics to guard something – something I'd say was important."

"You think this is where they're building the robots?"

"I'd say it's a good guess," the Doctor suddenly stopped. They stood before a large building. Unlike the other buildings around it, the lights in every room were on, each one with lacy curtains, and on the porch was single red light was lit. "In here."

The three men went up to the door, Jack knocked and after a moment the door cracked open, an older woman wearing a robe and holding a cigarette stared at them unimpressed. "Yes?" She sighed.

Jack pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills. The woman's eyes went wide and a smile slowly crept over her face as she opened the door and reached out a hand covered in liver spots to grab the money.

"Have you pick misters," she muttered, waving them in, her eyes glued on the money.

"Hey, wait a minute, is this…?" Marty walked in and for the second time that night it felt like his heart had stopped. They found themselves in a lush living room, and lounging on the couches were a collection of young, barely dressed, women giggling and talking amongst each other.

"Well," Jack cleared his throat, smiling gaily at the young women, "we've already paid."

"Uh…" was all Marty managed.

"Focus – the both of you," the Doctor grabbed the two of them and pushed them past the women into a small kitchen at the back of the house, closing the door behind them. A few moans of disappointment were heard behind the closed door.

Marty walked over to the sink and immediately started cleaning his face and arms, but he couldn't seem to get the taste of blood out of his mouth.

"Do you have a plan?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Does he ever?" Marty muttered.

"First we should wait until things calm down out there, then Marty can lead us to this building."

"You think Rex will still be there?"

"Either they think he's dead and they'll dump his body, or they'll realize he's immortal and try to get information out of him."

"You mean torture him?" Marty felt sick. He shouldn't have left him. It had been a cowardly thing to run like that. He had to sit and for a moment wondered if he didn't just make things worse the longer he stayed with the Doctor.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. We'll look for both Rex and the TARDIS and with any luck we'll find them intact."

Marty snorted back bitter laughter. "Right, because we're just rolling in luck right now."

"Sh," the Doctor suddenly went still.

"Did you just shush me?"

"Listen."

There wasn't a single sound. No talking, no giggling, no grunting.

Suddenly the kitchen door was kicked in and two men ran in, holding out their machine guns and firing widely.

**To Be Continued…**

(I suck. I know I suck. Three months is an awfully long time to wait for the last two chapters of an episode and I'm sorry. I won't even try to make excuses, I simply shouldn't have started posting this episode without it being finished. So you'll all be happy to know that as a special Christmas treat, tomorrow you will be getting the final chapter. Yay? I find it kind of strange, but I actually get annoyed by the whole TARDIS translates every language thing. I personally like having language barriers travellers need to overcome, and every time I went to write for one of the guards I was a little sad that I couldn't use Spanish.)


	7. Cornered

Back to the Doctor

Hit the Road Jack Part 7

The Doctor lunged at Marty, tackling him to the ground as Jack took out his gun and fired at the men. They took cover and the Doctor scrambled back to his feet, throwing a pot at a window, smashing it, while Marty and Jack crawled behind a table.

"Come on!" The Doctor yelled, but had to duck behind a counter as the men reared up and fired two new clips of bullets at them.

Jack reloaded, splinters of wood flying everywhere in the kitchen. The machine gun fire went silent for a moment.

"Go!" Jack yelled, pushing Marty and opening fire himself.

Marty jumped out the broken window, landing hard on the mud outside. A second later the Doctor landed beside him, then Jack tumbled out, holding a bloody arm.

"You're hurt!" The Doctor went to help him, but Jack pulled away.

"I'll heal!"

Two men appeared in the alley, Marty could see their machineguns glint from the light of the whorehouse.

"RUN!" Someone yelled, and Marty did as the men opened fired.

Marty didn't run far. The gunfire seemed to quiet, as though it were moving away from him, and despite the adrenaline urging him on, he forced himself to stop and look back.

He was alone.

Maybe he had gone right and they had gone left. It didn't matter. He was stricken with panic for a moment, but he pushed it away. He was done running. He wasn't going to abandon anyone else tonight – not ever.

He began back, walking slowly this time, watching every shadow as though another round of bullets might jump out at him.

Finally a second alley connected with his and, pressed close against the wall, he peered out into the brighter road. It was a road, he realized. It must have been the road the whorehouse was on. Streetlights dotted the abandoned road, and Marty took a deep breath.

Just as he was about to take a step out, something grabbed him from behind, a strong hand covered his mouth as another wrapped around him. Marty's eyes went wide with fear, until he heard a soft "shhh" in his ear.

The cartel wouldn't have shushed him. A robot wouldn't have shushed him. Was it the Doctor? He wanted to turn, to see who had hold of him, when he heard the car coming down the road. He allowed the man to pull him back into the shadows as the car drove past, eventually going silent.

"You've got an entire army after you, boy," the voice, an American, spoke, and Marty did not recognize it.

The hands released him and Marty swiveled around, holding his fists up, wary of any strangers – especially ones who grab at you in dark alleys.

The man was tall, with a strong square jaw and shirt blonde hair cut short. He was thin, but wiry with muscles. He dressed like a soldier, one from the 18th century as far as Marty could tell, a red coat with brass buttons.

"Who the hell are you?"

"A curious party," he said calmly. He looked at Marty with cool blue eyes.

"Yeah? You just happen to be wandering around in a city crawling with cartel?"

"Why not? You are," he smiled. "And they're not the cartel."

"How can you tell?"

"If they were the cartel, you would be dead. They're just hired guns. Their employers didn't want to hire the cartel, too many questions. These men are all expendable, untrained nobodies – but of course, that means they're not terribly good at their jobs."

"Sorry, who the hell are you?"

"I'm a friend."

"Not mine."

He leaned forward. "Did I say I was _your_ friend?"

Behind the man, a gun cocked, and Marty saw Captain Jack step out of the shadows, his gun trained on the back of the man's head.

"Get away from him Marty."

The man's smile only got wider. "Jack, would it kill you to just say hello?" He turned around and the two locked eyes.

"Friend of yours?" Marty asked.

"Once," Jack said after a pause.

"Hey. I thought I had explained everything to you."

"Shut up, _friend_."

"Will someone tell me who he is?"

"Captain John Hart," the man turned his head to look at Marty. "Jack and I go way back." He gave Jack a look that seemed to suggest they were more than just "friends."

"Then why is he pointing a gun at your head?"

"Because," Jack took a step closer. "It's too much of a coincidence that he should show up here. He isn't the sort of man who accidentally walks into these situations."

"I came for the time rift," John explained.

"So did we."

"Well," John looked at Jack, his eyes narrowing. "That is a coincidence, but quite a lucky one."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're not just here for the time rift, are you? You're here because of Morton Robotics, and they just so happen to be good acquaintances of mine. You're going to want to put that gun away, because if you want any chance in hell of getting into that building, you'll need me alive."

**To Be Continued in Episode Nine: And Doncha Come Back!**

(Marty really got turned into a ragdoll in these last two chapters with Jack and the Doctor pushing and pulling him around, but it's all for the sake of growth. Now, Captain John Hart only showed up in two or three episodes of Torchwood, but I think he made a strong enough impression to garner a guest appearance in a FanFic, lol. Yes, truly the highest of all podiums for a character of sci-fi to reach. Obviously – I hope – this is a two-part episode. So alas, after all that time I am still making you wait for the conclusion, but hopefully I'll get it done in less than three months. Oh hell, I PROMISE it will be out in less than three months.)


End file.
